Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker unleashed his horrific creation on an unsuspecting world over one hundred years ago. One could hardly imagine that his creature of the night would delight and inhabit the nightmares of every generation between his and ours. Count Dracula has become an icon of evil, and is perhaps the most widely recognized bogeyman in all of world literature. To date, there have been over one hundred films made about Dracula or other assorted vampires, not to mention countless novels, comic books, nonfiction works, toys, clubs and societiesÐ'--even a children's breakfast cereal celebrating the myth of the undead count. Dracula's notoriety is of such epic proportions that it has all but obscured the man who gave us this deliciously terrifying character of fiction.

Abraham "Bram" Stoker was born in Clontarf, Ireland on November 8, 1847, the third of seven children. For the first eight years of his life, he never stood upright without aid and was constantly kept in bed with unidentified illnesses ("ClassicNotes"). These illnesses and his feelings of helplessness were traumatizing experiences, which are noticeable in his literary work. Everlasting sleep and the resurrection from the dead, which are the central themes of his Dracula, were of great importance for him, perhaps because he was forced to spend much of his youth in bed.

Although he remained shy and bookish, in his teenage years Stoker was anything but sickly. Perhaps to make up for his earlier frailty, by the time Stoker attended Trinity College, in Dublin, he had become a skilled sportsman and was named University Athlete for his impeccable skill in soccer and marathon walking. At Trinity College, Stoker studied history, mathematics, and philosophy, and became president of the Philosophical Society and the Historical Society. It was there that he was introduced to the works of American poet Walt Whitman, and became an instant and devoted fan. He wrote Whitman a long, gushing letter praising his work, but did not mail it until four years later. In 1870, Stoker graduated from Trinity with honors in mathematics.

A series of events occurred while at Trinity that would change the direction of Stoker's life forever. A theatrical touring group came to Dublin offering a production of Sheridan's The Rivals featuring a young actor named Henry Irving (born John Henry Brodribb), the most highly revered Shakespearean actor of the period. "He is credited with lifting the social status of the acting profession [Ð'...] In 1895, he was knighted by Queen Victoria, thus becoming the first British actor to receive a knighthood" (Irving). Stoker was mesmerized by Irving's charismatic performance, but was disappointed to find only a cursory mention of the event in the next day's Dublin Evening Mail. A second tour by Irving four years later produced an equally unsatisfactory mention in the Mail, prompting an outraged young Stoker to march into the offices of the newspaper and offer himself for the unpaid position of theater critic. He got the job, and as a result, when Irving (now a star of the London stage) returned to Dublin a third time, this time to star in Hamlet, Stoker had the opportunity to set down in print glowing praises of his favorite actor. Irving read the review and was delighted to the extent that he invited the young critic to supper at his hotel, and began a friendship that would last for almost thirty years.

In the years between 1870 and 1877, Stoker, yielding to his father's wishes, followed him into a career as civil servant in Dublin Castle. However, Stoker maintained ties to Trinity College, returning there frequently to speak on a wide range of topics for the Philosophical Society.

In 1878, Irving took over ownership and renovation of London's Lyceum Theatre, and asked Stoker to come to London to manage the theater and Irving's career. Stoker immediately resigned his dreary civil service position, married a young lady he had recently been courting, the beautiful Florence Balcombe, a former girlfriend of a young Oscar Wilde, and rushed off to London with new bride in tow to come to Irving's aid. Before Stoker left Ireland, he published Duties of Clerks of Petty Session in Ireland, rules that were drawn from his experiences as a civil servant. Within a year, Florence had given birth to their only child, a son, Irving Noel Stoker.

The many years with Henry Irving were full of hard work and sacrifice, as Stoker frequently put his work before his family. Florence resented it fiercely and, although they continued to keep up appearances, it is believed that the Stokers became estranged ("Bram Stoker"). Their son grew so bitter over the lost attention that he dropped his first name" (R. Miller). Despite his heavy professional duties, and in spite of the resentment his family was feeling, Stoker somehow found the time to write fiction. He published a collection of eerie fairy tales for children in 1882, called Under the Sunset, and his first full-length novel, The Snake's Pass, in 1890 (Menon).

For the next 27 years, Stoker and Irving were an inseparable team, Stoker supervising all the business aspects of the Lyceum and its productions, and Irving casting, directing and starring in the plays. They toured America six times, during which time Stoker got to meet his beloved Walt Whitman, who was quite taken with Stoker, actually remembering his giddy letter from some years before. They corresponded until the poet's death in 1892 (Folsom and Price).

Stoker's first foray into gothic horror was the short story The Chain of Destiny, published in the Shamrock in 1875. However, it is